This blog is produced by the Consortium for Project Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, for anyone interested in the practical application of leadership to project management. We aim to publish meaningful articles by various authors on a monthly basis focused on stories about lessons learned in leading and managing projects.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

This month we feature a story penned by Jeff Russell, co-executive director of the Consortium for Project Leadership at UW-Madison. Excerpt:

... Experience is an ongoing process, and good leaders need to make the
most of it. Some look but don’t see; some listen but don’t understand.
As T.S. Eliot said, “We had the experience but missed the meaning.”

Experience necessarily involves failures, and you certainly shouldn’t
miss the meaning of those. Failures can prepare you to be a leader—as
long as you take the time to reflect on them. When you’re reflective,
you think about outcomes and impact. You develop judgment.

By “failing,” I don’t mean simply “making a mistake.” Failing can
involve falling short in a duty or an expected action. It can also refer
to a situation in which you don’t make the most of an opportunity. I’m
all too familiar with both scenarios and can speak from personal
experience about the benefits of failure. ...

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What is "Living Order"?

Embracing the "living order" concept is the first practice of project leadership. Leaders must be comfortable leading in today's environment of constant change. Bergson (1907) identified two types of order: the traditional concept of perfect geometric order, and living order -- which can be messy, even chaotic, with project problems and surprises in an evolving organization.